The researchers call it OMOY: A Handheld Robotic Gadget that Shifts its Weight to Express Emotions and Intentions.
Apparently, its purpose is to read your texts aloud and calm you down when you get upset.
It does this by moving a 250g weight around inside its torso area.
Per theirrecently-published paper:
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The robot is equipped with a movable weight inside its body.
All while moving a weight around inside its body.
However, only 3.5% of the anger was suppressed when the weight shifts were not applied.
There was almost no effect confirmed when the weight shifts were not applied.
According to the study participants, holding the robot while hearing negative texts made them feel less angry.
That actually makes a lot of sense.
